Bookkeeper admits embezzling

$340,000 taken from Kinderhook, Greenport to pay for food, clothes

Updated 8:00 am, Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A former government bookkeeper in Columbia County has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $300,000 from two towns' bank accounts.

Pegeen Mulligan-Moore, 40, of Mountain View Drive, Valatie, admitted stealing $287,000 in Kinderhook town funds to pay for personal credit card purchases and depositing more than $53,000 of the town of Greenport's checks into her personal checking account.

Mulligan-Moore was accused of the embezzlement in a 20-count indictment handed up in September after a probe by state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli's office, State Police and the Columbia County district attorney's office.

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The investigation showed that between December 2006 and January 2010, Mulligan-Moore stole $287,000 from Kinderhook through a series of electronic fund transfers from the town's accounts into her American Express credit card account.

On Monday, Mulligan-Moore admitted she bilked more than $14,000 from the town in two separate purchases in January when she was no longer working there.

William Reynolds, a spokesman for DiNapoli's office, said Mulligan-Moore spent her most of her money on small purchases, including food, drinks, hotel rooms, clothes, gas, coffee, auto parts and repairs, tools and pool supplies. Reynolds said police also removed nine laptops from Mulligan-Moore's home.

Columbia County District Attorney Beth Cozzolino said Mulligan-Moore made dozens of purchases with her credit card from eBay and QVC, as well.

Reynolds said Mulligan-Moore was able to get away with stealing the funds because of a lack of oversight by town officials.

According to Cozzolino, Kinderhook officials were alerted to the stolen funds when Patrick Grattan, who became Kinderhook town supervisor in January 2010, elected not to renew Mulligan-Moore's term after examining various accounting records and finding misappropriated funds and missing documents.

"Without Patrick, this could have kept going on for years," Cozzolino said.

After leaving her Kinderhook post in January 2010, Mulligan-Moore went to work for the town of Greenport. The investigation revealed that between January and July 2010, Mulligan-Moore deposited more than $50,000 in town checks into her personal checking account, making out Greenport checks to herself or a family member.

The joint investigation into Mulligan-Moore's finances began in April after Grattan had unsuccessfully attempted to contact Mulligan-Moore for months about missing documentation explaining $127,459 in electronic payments from the town's general fund to American Express.

"She kept telling him she didn't have the documents and that they must be at Town Hall," Cozzolino said.

Police found the records in a closet in Mulligan-Moore's Greenport office while executing a search warrant on April 21.

In late July, State Police searched Mulligan-Moore's home in Valatie.

She was indicted on Sept. 8 on 18 felonies and two misdemeanors.

Charges against her included multiple felony counts of third-degree grand larceny, computer trespass, first-degree falsifying business records and tampering with public records. Sentencing is April 19.